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The ABCs of ERM: Demystifying
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Public and Academic Librarians
Jessica Zellers
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The ABCs of ERM
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The ABCs of ERM
Demystifying Electronic Resource
Management for Public and
Academic Librarians
Jessica Zellers, Tina M. Adams, and Katherine Hill

Copyright © 2018 by Jessica Zellers, Tina M. Adams, and Katherine Hill
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherw ise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a
review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2017044500
ISBN: 978-1-4408-5580-1 (paperback)
978-1-4408-5581-8 (ebook)
22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available as an eBook.
Libraries Unlimited
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
ABC-CLIO, LLC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
www.abc-clio.com
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Chapter 1 So What Are Electronic Resources Anyway? 1

Definitions 2
Who’s Who: The Major Players 4
The Electronic Resources Life Cycle 4
NASIG Core Competencies 5
Who Should Read This Book? 7
Additional Readings 8
References 8
Chapter 2 Vendors Are Your Friend 9
Types of Vendors 10
Publishers 10
Aggregators 11
Subscription Agents (aka Book Jobbers) 11
Consortia and Buying Clubs 12
Platform Providers 12
The Ideal Vendor Relationship 12
Building Strong Working Relationships with Vendors 13
Jumpstarting Relationships at a New Library 16
Negotiating with Vendors 17
Adopting the Negotiation Mind-Set 18
Theories of Negotiation 19
Tips and Techniques 21
Conclusion 24
References 25
Chapter 3 Licenses: The Fine Print 26
A Note on Public Libraries 27
viContents
Preparing to Negotiate 28
Definitions and Examples 29
Curing a Breach 29
Indemnification 30
Warrantees 30
Jurisdiction 31
Authorized Users 31
Limitation of Liability 32
Primacy of the Signed License 32
Policing Users 33
Authorized and Unauthorized Uses 33
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) 33
Scholarly Sharing 34
Printing, Copying, and Downloading 34
Electronic Reserves and Course Packs 34
Fair Use Clause 34
Business Terms 35
List of Items Covered by License 35
Guarantee of Usage Statistics 35
Guarantee of MARC Record Delivery 35
Renewal Terms 35
Authentication Methods 36
Inflation Cap 36
Early Cancellation 36
Perpetual Access 36
Archival Access 37
E-Book Licenses 37
Streaming Media Licenses 39
Current Trends in Licensing 42
Shared Electronic Resource Understanding (SERU) 42
ONIX-PL 42
Data and Text Mining 43
You Are Not Alone 43
Housekeeping 44
Conclusion 46
References 47
Chapter 4 Buy All the T

hings! 48
Traditional Purchasing Options 49
Subscription Resources 49
Contents vii
Perpetual Access 49
Aggregator Databases 50
Access-Only 50
Journal Packages 51
One-Time Funds 51
Emerging Purchasing Options 52
Demand-Driven Acquisitions (DDA) and
Patron-Driven Acquisitions (PDA) 53
Evidence-Based Acquisitions (EBA) 54
Interlibrary Loan Purchase-on-Demand (ILL PoD) 55
Pay-Per-View (PPV) 55
Pricing Models 56
Workflows for Acquisitions 57
Open Access 59
Conclusion 62
References 62
Chapter 5 Creating Access in All the Right Places 63
Definitions 64
IP Authentication 66
Proxy Servers 67
Authentication Methods 67
Choosing a Proxy Server 69
EZproxy 70
Access to Databases 71
Access to Journals 73
Journals in Public Libraries 73
Knowledge Bases 74
OpenURLs 75
Journals and EZproxy 76
Access to Streaming Media 77
Access to E-books and Audiobooks 78
Access to Discovery Serv ices 79
Publicity 80
Conclusion 81
References 82
Chapter 6 Marketing, Part I: Planning 83
The Rules of Marketing 84
The Marketing Plan 85
viiiContents
Step 1: Research What Has Already Been Done 86

Step 2: Perform an Environmental Scan 86
Step 3: Develop a Marketing Group 88
Step 4: Conduct Market Research 89
Step 5: Write a SWOT 89
Step 6: Develop Goals 91
Step 7: Create an Action Plan 91
Step 8: Develop an Assessment Plan 92
Step 9: Evaluate 93
Step 10: Revise 94
Conducting Market Research 94
Surveys 95
Focus Groups 97
Conclusion 99
References 100
Chapter 7 Marketing, Part II: Promotional Strategies 101
Word-of-Mouth Marketing 102
Web Marketing 104
The Value of Web Marketing 104
Tips for Web Marketing 105
Print Marketing 106
Var ieties of Print Marketing 106
Tips for Print Marketing 107
Outreach Marketing 108
Examples of Outreach Marketing 108
Tips for Outreach Marketing 109
Branding 110
Developing Your Brand 110
Tips for Branding 111
Social Media 111
Tips for Social Media 112
Facebook 113
Twitter 115
Blogging 116
Conclusion 117
References 118
Chapter 8 Assessment, Part I: Subscription Resources 120
Data-Driven Decisions 122
Contents ix
Qualitative Assessments of Electronic Resources 122

Qualitative Assessments beyond the Products
Themselves 125
Measuring Usage 127
COUNTER and SUSHI 128
Tools and Resources 129
Determining Value 130
Databases 132
Journals and Big Deals 133
Media Platforms 133
Budgeting and Financial Sustainability 134
Talk to Your Reps 135
Distributing the Misery 135
Cancellation Band-A ids 136
Public Relations 137
Conclusion 137
References 138
Chapter 9 Assessment, Part II: One-Time Purchases
and Leases 140
Collection Development of Electronic Resources 141
Format Selection 143
Cost 144
Hands-Off Collection Development 145
Access vs. Ownership 145
Self-P ub 146
The Case for Weeding Electronic Resources 147
Identifying What to Weed 148
The Self-Weeding Collection 150
How to Weed Electronic Resources 151
Conclusion 151
References 152
Chapter 10 I Think the Internet Broke 154
Reporting and Tracking Problems 155
What Went Wrong and How to Fix It 156
Step 1: Replicate the Problem 157
Step 2: Determine the Route of Access 158
Step 3: Seek Out Reports of the Problem 159
Step 4: Report the Problem 160
xContents
Troubleshooting Scenarios 160

Scenario 1: ProQuest Database Outage 160
Scenario 2: Downloadable Audiobook Access Error 161
Scenario 3: Journal Access Error 162
Scenario 4: Database Access Error 165
Scenario 5: Abundant Discovery Serv ice
Access Errors 165
The End of the Troubleshooting Rainbow 167
Conclusion 168
References 168
Chapter 11 Users Are P
eople, Too 169
Overview 170
Getting Started 172
Setting Goals 173
User Research 175
Persona Creation 176
Recruiting Users 177
Screening Users 178
Participatory Design 179
Card Sorting 179
Prototyping 181
Usability Testing 182
Types of Usability Tests 182
Creating a Test Plan 185
The Nuts and Bolts of Moderation 189
Executing the Test 191
Summarizing the Data 192
Analyzing the Data 193
Heuristic Testing 194
Presenting Your Findings 195
Conclusion 196
References 197
Chapter 12 No Librarian Is an Island 199
Consortia 200
Advantages 201
Disadvantages 201
How to Make Consortia Work 202
Consortia in Action 204
Contents xi
Professional Development 204

Listservs 205
Organi zations 206
Conferences 207
Webinars 209
Journals 210
Mentors 210
Conclusion 211
References 212
Appendix 215
Glossary 225
Index 237
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CHAPTER ONE
So What Are Electronic

Resources Anyway?
It used to be so simple.
If you wanted to borrow a book, you went to the library. That was the
point of libraries. They had books you could borrow for free. T here were
other t hings, too—newspapers, microfilm readers, collections of magazines
packaged in unattractive cardboard covers—but for most people, libraries
were all about the books.
Then the internet happened.
The impact of the digital revolution on library collections cannot be
overstated. Card catalogs gave way to online catalogs, vastly improving the
accessibility and searchability of libraries’ holdings. Journals moved online
and electronic databases sprang into existence, allowing ordinary p eople
to become researchers without the need for librarian intervention. And
when the online behemoth retailer Amazon released its first Kindle e-reader
in 2007, electronic books went from irrelevancy to mainstream contend-
ers, nearly overnight.
People still associate libraries with books. It d
oesn’t m
atter how many
instructional classes you offer, how many papier-mâché crafts projects you
host, how many databases you subscribe to. When people think of librar-
ies, they think of row after row of physical books. And they’re not wrong,
exactly; apart from a few places pushing the envelope with experimental
collections, libraries do indeed offer shelves of books, neatly arranged and
easily findable.
But the simple days of yesteryear are gone. Library patrons, regardless
of their own technical expertise, need and want electronic resources. Not
2 The ABCs of ERM
so long ago, most patrons met their informational and recreational needs
with books (or, in academic libraries, with books and journals). The other
formats w ere optional frills for the average person.
Electronic resources, in contrast, are essential for nearly everyone.
Researchers depend on e-journals, e-books, databases, and general inter-
net websites. P eople who use the library for pleasure reading can avoid
e-books, but they cannot avoid the electronic catalog if they want a spe-
cific call number—not u nless they ask for help.
And that is the other big piece of the puzzle. We who work in libraries
ensure that patrons can access the resources they need and want. That’s
our job. It makes absolutely no difference whether those resources are
physical or electronic.
Except, of course, it does.
Libraries w ere providing access to books back when they w ere writ-
ten by hand and illustrated with charming gold inlays. We have long-
established relationships with vendors and book jobbers and processes
for acquisition, description, and classification that have worked reliably for
decades on end. Some library employees learn about the system in library
school, whereas others learn on the job; e ither way, much of the learning
comes naturally. No one has to be taught what a book is.
Electronic resources have a much steeper learning curve. T hey’re just
as important as their physical analogs, but they don’t have decades and
centuries of tradition underpinning them. Everyone knows what a book
is, but not everyone knows what a database is. Concepts surrounding elec-
tronic resources are addressed thoroughly in some library programs but
not in o thers, and none of that m atters anyway for p eople who do not have
library degrees, or who earned their degrees when electronic resources
were nascent.
This book was written to bring clarity to electronic resources and to help
people navigate the steps of managing them. W e’ll start by looking at some
definitions.
Definitions
The area of electronic resources is riddled with lingo, which can be dis-
concerting for new librarians. We’ve gathered some of the more common
terms here:
Big Deals are bundled collections of e-journals, usually marketed to academic

libraries. As with cable packages, some content w
ill be more desirable than
other content.
So What Are Electronic Resources Anyway? 3
Databases are thematic collections of electronic resources. Some offer original

content, such as Ancestry Plus, a genealogical database. Other databases
are aggregators, which pull together many disparate resources into one
searchable interface. T
hese general aggregators are often the starting place
for research questions. Examples include ProQuest Central and JSTOR.
Downloadable Audiobooks (also e-audiobooks) are digitized audiobooks that
may be downloaded to a computer or handheld device.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) refers to copyright management for electronic
resources. DRM is set by the publisher or distributor and can include restric-
tions on the number of users and the ability to save, print, and share.
E-books are digitized books that may be read on a computer or handheld device.
E-journals (also electronic journals) are digitized journals that may be read on a
computer or handheld device. They include popular magazines as well as
scholarly journals.
Electronic resources (also e-resources) are digitized versions of intellectual con-
tent, as compared to physical versions such as print, microfiche, and DVDs.
Common examples are databases, e-books, e-journals, and downloadable
audiobooks.
E-readers are handheld devices that can be used to read e-books and other digi-
tal media. Some devices, such as the Kindle and the NOOK, are dedicated
e-readers whose primary or exclusive function is to serve as a platform for
e-books and e-journals. Alternatively, multipurpose smartphones, tablets,
laptops, and computers can be used as e-readers.
The internet often gets overlooked in discussions of electronic resources, even
though internet access is one of the most valuable serv ices that libraries pro-
vide. W
hether patrons bring their own devices or use library equipment,
they can use the library to access the vast world of electronic resources. This
includes the e-journals, databases, and other electronic resources, selected
by librarians, that are the subject of this book; personal computing applica-
tions like email and social media; and websites in general. Some of t hese
freely available websites are as valuable to librarians as fee-based resources,
and libraries w ill often draw attention to them by linking to them in Lib-
Guides or catalog records.
Open Access (OA) refers to intellectual content that is freely available to end-
users, often with few or no restrictions for its use.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are a subset of Open Access Resources used
in the classroom and other academic settings. They are particularly popular
in distance-learning classes.
Serials, in most contexts, is just another word for “journals.” This term is a hold-
over from the time when all serials w ere journals and all journals w
ere seri-
als. The word can also refer to databases, however, because most databases
4 The ABCs of ERM
have dynamic content and require an annual renewal fee. Thus a Serials
Librarian likely deals with print journals, e-journals, and databases.
Streaming media refers to resources that are “streamed”—continuously delivered
over a live connection—as opposed to resources that are first downloaded
and then watched by viewers. Films and telev ision are the most common
types of streaming media in libraries.
Who’s Who: The Major Players

When it comes to electronic resources, vendors and organizations
abound. We’ve pulled together some of the biggest names h
ere:
EBSCO: One of the three biggest database providers, along with Gale and
ProQuest.
Gale: One of the three biggest database providers, along with EBSCO and
ProQuest.
Hoopla Digital: A provider of streaming and downloadable movies, music,
e-books, audiobooks, comics, and telev ision shows.
Kanopy: A provider of streaming movies, mostly documentaries and classic films.
NASIG: North American Serials Interest Group. An organization that promotes
the distribution, acquisition, and long-term accessibility of information
resources.
NISO: The National Information Standards Organization develops, maintains,
and publishes technical standards.
OCLC: A cooperative library that got its start in interlibrary loan (ILL). It remains
best known for facilitating ILL, but it also provides many other serv ices and
products, including EZproxy.
OverDrive: A provider of downloadable e-books and audiobooks.
ProQuest: One of the three biggest database providers, along with EBSCO and
Gale.
RBdigital: A provider of downloadable audiobooks and e-books from Recorded
Books. Formerly One-Click Digital.
Swank: A provider of streaming movies, including feature films.
The Electronic Resources Life Cycle

In 2013, Jill Emery and Graham Stone wrote about six Techniques for
Electronic Resource Management (TERMS), a project that had been brew-
ing for several years. Developed in part by crowdsourcing ideas from the
library community, the six TERMS describe the life cycle of electronic
resources (Emery & Stone 2013, 8). We’ve listed those steps here, along
with brief descriptions of what they mean:
• Investigating New Content for Purchase/Addition: Your first step includes

comparing products and getting price quotes.
• Acquiring New Content: Once the decision to purchase has been made, you
must negotiate terms and sign licenses.
• Implementation: This stage includes testing the bugs, setting up local and
remote access, training staff and users, and marketing the electronic resource.
• Ongoing Evaluation and Access: This stage involves assessing electronic
resources and ensuring their accessibility.
• Annual Review: For subscription resources, you w ill need to evaluate
whether to keep or cancel subscriptions e very year.
• Cancellation and Replacement Review: Finally, when you cancel subscrip-
tions, you need to communicate with stakeholders and patrons.
As of 2017, the TERMS are undergoing revision. TERMS 2.0 w ill col-
lapse the “Evaluation” and “Annual Review” stages into one and add a new
stage, “Preservation” (Emery, Stone, & McCracken 2017). This book draws
its inspiration from the first iteration, however: not only does the original
life cycle remain a valuable framework, but the new emphasis on digital
preservation currently has limited applicability to public libraries.
NASIG Core Competencies

There are many aspects of electronic resource management that can
include everyone from a Systems Admin to the Head of Public Services, as
can be seen in the earlier section. The contents of this book are based both
on TERMS and on the NASIG core competencies for Electronic Resources
Librarians. Realizing that this was a growing position with a lack of a strong
job definition, NASIG put together a task force to examine job descriptions
that included electronic resource management in their title or main duties.
The task force identified trends across the requirements and duties and
used t hese trends as a springboard to create a list of core competencies.
The full list of core competencies, available at the NASIG website, is
extensive. You may be forgiven for wondering how one person is supposed
to do it all. We have whittled down the list, collecting and summarizing
the main issues that Electronic Resources Librarians should understand:
Life Cycle of Electronic Resources: The Electronic Resources Librarian should

be very familiar with TERMS, as described earlier, and be able to act as the
6 The ABCs of ERM
bridge between all the different moving parts and departments who might
touch an electronic resource. They need to have a broad understanding of all
the phases a resource goes through, from acquisition to preservation. This
includes managing electronic resources budgets, licensing electronic resources,
creating access points via the catalog and other methods to these resources,
and developing systems for maintaining and tracking all of these parts.
Technology: Because electronic resources are online, Electronic Resources Librar-
ians need to be able to use and manipulate the underlying hardware and
software that supports access. This includes understanding networking tech-
nology; common standards and protocols such as OpenURL, Shibboleth,
and IP; how to design a basic database; and how to use specific software such
as link resolver software, discovery serv ices, and Electronic Resource Man-
agement (ERM) systems.
Research and Assessment: The Electronic Resources Librarian needs to be able
to analytically and thoroughly look at collection decisions, electronic resources
problems, and other issues. This includes being able to gather information
about potential purchases from patrons and fellow librarians, using usage
statistics to make informed decisions on renewals and future avenues of col-
lecting, and understanding how the numerous publisher and library systems
talk to each other in order to pinpoint potential and current trouble spots
for patrons.
Effective Communication: Electronic Resource Librarians need to be open in
their communication. They need to be able to switch contexts easily from
patron to vendor to librarian and provide translations for each of t hose groups.
They also need to be able to communicate their research and evaluation in
such a way as to be persuasive to stakeholders.
Supervising and Management: Even if Electronic Resources Librarians are not
directly managing staff, they often are involved in project management and
developing unit-w ide procedures and workflows. As such, they need to have
strong project management skills; be able to keep projects on time; and be
able to analyze workflows and procedures and revise, repeal, or replace them
as necessary. They also need to be able to communicate library policy con-
cisely and clearly to patrons based on the situation at their library.
Trends and Professional Development: The world of the Electronic Resources
Librarian is constantly in flux. Therefore they need to commit themselves to
professional development, especially in areas like new standards (COUNTER
and KBART, for example), changes and updates to copyright law, trends in
scholarly communication, and new digital tools and initiatives that could be
useful, like SUSHI and OpenURL.
If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is a lot. Just remember, you are
taking the first awesome step by reading this book. We w ill make sure to
help you along the way so you can eventually claim the title of NASIG-
competent Electronic Resources Librarian!
Who Should Read This Book?

In news that should surprise no one who’s ever been to library school,
a study of the preparedness of entry-level Technical Serv ices Librarians
found a disconnect between what is being taught in library schools and
what is needed in the workforce (Mueller, Thompson, & Valdes 2015).
Library administrators found 0.9 percent of their new hires to be unqual-
ified, 18.5 percent to be poorly qualified, and 35.2 percent to be ade-
quately qualified, compared to 32.6 percent who w ere moderately qualified
and 12.9 percent who were extremely qualified (Mueller et al. 2015, 13).
Among the qualities and skills that library administrators desired, but did
not always get, were familiarity with contract and license negotiations,
awareness of current trends and options for electronic resources track-
ing and management, and experience with ILS software (Mueller et al.
2015, 11).
This book is for people with library degrees and without. It is a hand-
book for anyone who has ever felt bewildered by electronic resources, writ-
ten especially for people working in public and academic libraries. The
three authors of this book have each worked as Electronic Resources Librar-
ians and wish this manual had existed when they w ere starting their jobs.
Although the focus is on the behind-the-scenes, technical aspects of col-
lection development, acquisitions, and management, it w ill prove useful
to frontline staff, library administrators, and students in library school.
A note on language: We use the term “librarian” a lot b ecause it’s

clunky to say “librarians, paraprofessionals, and support staff” each
time we want to make a point. We know that the particulars of job titles
and degrees aren’t always important. In some libraries, volunteers
answer reference questions and troubleshoot electronic resources. We
use “librarian” to refer to anyone who currently works in a library or
hopes to someday.
Our purpose is not to overwhelm you with in-depth details or high-

concept philosophies, though we do provide suggestions for additional
reading in each chapter, if you’re a glutton for theory. Instead, we provide
8 The ABCs of ERM
practical advice and just enough background information to get you up

to speed.
Additional Readings
Hamlett, Alexandra. 2016. “Keeping Up with the Flow: Electronic Resource Work-
flow and Analysis.” Serials Librarian 70, no. 1–4: 168–174.
Imre, Andrea, Steve Oberg, Scott Vieira, and Lori Duggan. 2016. “The Future Is
Flexible, Extensible, and Community-Based: Stories of Successful Elec-
tronic Resources Management.” Serials Librarian 70, no. 1–4: 204–210.
Rinck, Elan May. 2017. “Coming to TERMS with Electronic Resource Manage-
ment: An Interview with Jill Emery, Graham Stone, and Peter McCracken.”
Serials Review 43, no. 1: 51–54.
Ross, Sheri V. T., and Sarah W. Sutton. 2016. Guide to Electronic Resource Manage-
ment. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
Sutton, Sarah W., and Paula Sullenger. 2017. “The Development and Use of the
NASIG Core Competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians.” Serials
Review 43, no. 2: 147–152.
Weir, Ryan O., ed. 2012. Managing Electronic Resources: A LITA Guide. Chicago:
ALA TechSource.
References
Emery, Jill, and Graham Stone. 2013. “Introduction and Literature Review.” Library
Technology Reports 49, no. 2: 5–9.
Emery, Jill, Graham Stone, and Peter McCracken. 2017. “Getting Back on TERMS
(Version 2.0).” TERMS Techniques for Electronic Resource Management.
https://library.hud.ac.uk/blogs/terms.
Mueller, Kat Landry, Molly Thompson, and Zach Valdes. 2015. “Ready, Set, Hire!
Perceptions of New Technical Serv ices Librarian Preparedness.” Library
Leadership & Management 29, no. 4: 1–33.
NASIG Executive Board. “Core Competencies for E-Resources Librarians.” July 26,
2016. www.nasig.org/site_page.cfm?pk_ association_webpage_menu=3
10
&pk_ association_webpage=7802.
CHAPTER TWO
Vendors Are Your Friend
Vendors, which we define as all the entities from whom we purchase con-
tent and software, have always played an important role for libraries. With-
out them publishing and making creative expressions available, the
library as we know it today would not exist. With the expansion to licensed
(and not just owned) electronic content and the development of extensive
integrated library systems (ILS), the librarian’s relationship to vendors has
increased in complexity and importance. Carlson (2006, 8), in his Rela-
tionships Between Libraries and Vendors, sums it up well: “the dependence
of modern libraries on vendors is unprecedented.”
The importance of good vendor relationships cannot be overstated. If
you examine the life cycle of an electronic resource as laid out in the TERMS
model (discussed in the introduction), you w ill see that interactions with
vendors take place in every step. You talk to vendors, set up meetings with
them, and visit them at conferences to investigate new content for purchase.
You negotiate terms of use and price with vendors in order to acquire new
material. You exchange information to technically implement resources
correctly. You work closely with them as you try to troubleshoot access
problems. And you discuss renewals and possible cancellations with them
when it is time for evaluation. Strong communication and relationships
with vendors are an essential part of being an effective Electronic Resources
Librarian.
Vendor interactions are mentioned frequently throughout this book, as
they are an integral part of day-to-day work, but this chapter focuses on a
few fundamental aspects:
• Types of Vendors: A basic introduction to the different types of vendors and

their role in the library.
10 The ABCs of ERM
• The Ideal Vendor Relationship: Methods of starting and maintaining good

relationships.
• Negotiating with Vendors: Getting into the negotiation mind-set, theories
of negotiation, and negotiating tips and techniques.
e’re focusing on t hese specific topics due to their inclusion in NASIG’s

W
core competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians (Sutton et al. 2016).
B ecause these core competencies w ere chosen based on how frequently
these skills were mentioned in Electronic Resources Librarian job ads, their
mention indicates how essential they are to the everyday work of electronic
resources. They were also chosen because these topics and skills are rel-
evant to all types of libraries, though the specifics might be different.
Types of Vendors
Before you jump into the world of meeting all the vendors as an Elec-
tronic Resources Librarian, it is helpful to know the different types of ven-
dors with which you can and most likely w ill work. Understanding what
type of vendor you are working with can help you determine how much
leeway you have in negotiating costs and terms of use and can help you
understand who to get in contact with if you are interested in specific types
of products.
It’s worth noting, however, that some vendors—especially the huge
ones—serve numerous roles. For example, EBSCO and their various hold-
ings can fill the role of the subscription agent, the aggregator, or the pub-
lisher, depending on the product. Before you begin interacting with a
vendor, try to identify what role they are playing at that point in time.
Given the different types of vendors offering products, you frequently can
get the same intellectual content from numerous different sources. Differ
ent sources have different advantages and disadvantages. For example, you
might be able to get certain content more cheaply through an aggregator,
but they might be missing the latest year of content. Before you decide
to purchase content through one source, be sure to understand what that
source means and what other options are available. We’ll be talking about
ways to research alternatives later in this chapter.
Publishers
These vendors directly publish the material that they are offering for
sale electronically. They can be both nonprofit (most academic society
presses and university presses fall in this category) or for-profit (as is the
Vendors Are Your Friend 11
case with most of the popular press publishers). Either way, they work
directly with copyright holders to publish material and then sell it to librar-
ies, e ither on an individual title basis or, more commonly, in a large full-
text package.
Because they often own the copyright to the materials they are selling,
publishers can have greater flexibility when negotiating terms of use. They
also have more control on what digital locks are put in place. This means
that purchases from publishers w ill have more lenient terms (though not
always, of course). The downside is that the materials you get from pub-
lishers only contain material they publish.
Aggregators
These are vendors who do not directly publish materials but instead
license content from publishers. They have permission to use materials,
but they do not own the copyright. Although aggregators do include
content from big publishers, they often include a lot of content from small
publishers who would otherw ise not have the h uman resources or budget
to reach a large audience. Aggregators therefore can offer a wide variety of
content from many different publishers, all accessible using the same inter-
face and terms of use.
But because aggregators do not own the copyright to their content, they
have limited room to negotiate terms of use, b ecause they need to please
all the various publishers they work with. This means that often the strict-
est terms from represented publishers are the ones that are put in place
for the entire product. Although negotiating terms of use can be challeng-
ing with this type of resource, price negotiation is absolutely something
you should do. Finally, due to the lack of copyright, the other issue with
these types of resources is that materials can be removed suddenly if the
aggregator loses their license to the copyrighted material.
Subscription Agents (aka Book Jobbers)

hese vendors act as intermediaries between publishers and libraries.
T
They provide an interface for librarians to select journals or books t hey’re
interested in subscribing to, a fter which the subscription agent contacts
the publisher to get price quotes and set up access. Sometimes general
terms of use can be set up to cover everything subscribed to through the
vendor, but in some cases, special agreements must be signed before you
can request to purchase resources from the different publishers.
12 The ABCs of ERM
Subscription agents are g reat for managing many individual purchases,

especially for a wide variety of small publishers. However, working through
them does limit your ability to negotiate price and terms directly. Instead
you negotiate through the agent and hope for the best. Most of these ser
vices also cost the library a fee.
Consortia and Buying Clubs

Incredibly important for most public libraries, t hese are generally non-
profit state-or library-r un groups that work together to negotiate price and
sometimes license terms for their members. The hope is that by pooling
resources and gathering a lot of potential subscribers, vendors will be more
likely to offer better prices to all members. Many states also have organ
izations that purchase and negotiate terms for a collection of resources.
These subscriptions are paid for with state funds and then offered for f ree
to public institutions, such as public libraries, community colleges, and
public universities.
As an individual member of a consortium, you generally (though not
always) pay a fee to belong, and you can often opt in and out of deals.
Although you cannot negotiate price if you get something through a con-
sortium, some consortia allow individual negotiation of terms of use. See
also Chapter 12 for an in-depth discussion of consortia.
Platform Providers
Generally, you w ill not need to negotiate directly with these vendors,
as they tend to work strictly on the publisher support side. However, it is
useful to know how to contact the major ones that publishers use in case
there are technical or administrative access issues. Platform providers cre-
ate the back-end technology to support the hosting of publisher content.
A good example of a platform provider is Atypon (www.atypon.com).
The Ideal Vendor Relationship

Within libraries, t here are a lot of different opinions about what the cor-
rect attitude toward vendors should be. Vendors and libraries do have
some different priorities; for example, vendors want to protect their product
from copying or theft, because their control over the supply of these prod-
ucts is key to their existence. They also want to keep solvent, which requires
selling their products at enough of a markup to make a profit.
Libraries focus on sharing information to their patrons. The broad shar-

ing of ideas and information, as well as the right to privacy, is so essential
to the library that it is encoded in ALA’s Code of Ethics. Libraries also want
to make as much quality information as possible available to patrons,
though they are restricted in purchasing power by an often very limited
budget. These opposing goals can cause tension and conflict between the
sides.
Though the methods of operating might not always be similar on both
sides, we do ourselves a disserv ice when we in libraries treat vendors as
frenemies. Ideally, librarians and vendors constitute two sides of a mutu-
ally dependent, professional partnership. When viewed this way, librari-
ans have a ctual leverage when negotiating and working with vendors. It is
true that we need publishers, vendors, and aggregators in order to get
important content for our patrons . . . but they also need us.
Libraries are currently the largest customer base for many publishers,
especially t hose catering to academic markets. Vendors rely on libraries to
acquire their content and make it available to the intended audience of
readers. In the end, libraries and vendors both share the goal of making
information accessible to those who need it. When you see vendors in this
light, as a partner with whom you can disagree but with whom you share
common goals, negotiation and working with publishers becomes far less
scary.
Professionalism is essential in this endeavor. Although you can be social
with vendors and even become friends with them (yes, it is true, this is
possible!), keep in mind that making vendors your friend is not your ulti-
mate goal. Realize that disagreements may happen and that these disagree-
ments are about professional matters and are not an indictment of you as
a person. Work against the tendency to become defensive and to take all
negative feedback as personal. In most vendor discussions, it simply is their
job to try to get as much money for their product and protect their prod-
uct as much as they can.
Building Strong Working Relationships with Vendors

One of the first goals when you buy a new product or begin working at
a new job is to identify your main contact. Most vendors assign a main
point of contact for each library, a person who often is referred to as the
library’s sales representative or customer representative. Depending on the
structure and size of the company, t here can be one representative for an
entire country or type of library, or you can have a representative who is
14 The ABCs of ERM
responsible for libraries of a certain size in a certain geographic area. A

rep might serve community colleges in three states, or all libraries in one
state.
Large publishers can also have an additional representative called the
account representative, who is also assigned to specific libraries. The sales
representative is generally who you w ill contact for information about new
products, licenses, and price negotiations, and the account representative
is the person you w ill contact if you need an invoice or if you have any
questions about access. Finally, t here may be numerous sales representa-
tives representing different products offered by a company; you might have
one person who is your sales representative for databases, one who repre-
sents e-books, and one who represents e-journals.
If this seems confusing, that’s b ecause it is. The key to untangling t hese
relationships and contacts is to home in on just one person at a company.
Send them your questions, even if you are not sure they are the right per-
son. Most w ill be glad to forward you on to someone who can help, thus
letting you know who to contact next time.
If you unintentionally contact the wrong rep and they express frus
tration, ask for a different rep. This advice holds for any shoddy treat
ment. Part of the money you pay for electronic resources is for the
satisfaction of a good customer experience.
Of course, this approach requires you to be able to find an initial con-

tact in the company. There are few ways to go about this:
• Some libraries keep records of past vendor contacts. Ask your supervisor or
someone e lse who has worked in a department for a long time if t here is such
a list and if you can access it. It’s also possible the information is stored in
your ILS or in your Electronic Resource Management tool, if you have one.
• If no list exists, find colleagues who have worked in collections management
and acquisitions for at least a few years at your institution. Identify the major
vendors you have products with, and ask them if they can find contact infor-
mation for you. Often contact information w ill be tucked away in an email
folder. Start with the top 10 to 20 vendors with which your library works.
(Hint: The more money you spend with a vendor, the more important it is to
have their contact information.) As new questions arise or new products
become of interest, ask for new vendor contacts at the point of need.
• Contact librarians who deal with electronic resource management at librar-

ies near you and of a similar type and size. Often these libraries w ill be
assigned the same representatives and w ill be glad to share with you their
list of names and emails.
• Though not advised for urgent questions, you can always gather missing con-
tact information by approaching vendors at conferences, especially local
conferences. Often the people at local conferences w ill be your representa-
tive. If they are not, you can still get the contact information of an actual per-
son in a company and use that as a point of entry.
• If all else fails, look on the vendor’s website. Specific personal contact infor-
mation will normally not be provided, but even a general orders or sales email
contact is better than nothing and w ill hopefully lead to a more direct con-
tact in the future.
As a best practice, store contact information for vendors in a loca

tion that is sharable and editable by numerous people. If you have an
Electronic Resource Management (ERM) system, there may be a sec
tion for storing vendor information. If you don’t, a Google spreadsheet
or even an Excel spreadsheet shared via a system like Dropbox can
work well. Whatever system you choose, be sure to include the per
son’s name, email, phone number, company, and position in the com
pany. It’s also valuable to record gender and preferred pronouns, even
in cases where this information seems apparent.
Besides email and conferences, there are other ways to get in touch with
vendors and even influence the directions of their products and business
decisions. Vendors recognize that librarians are willing to provide critical
feedback, have a direct conduit to patrons, and have a g reat deal of purchas-
ing power. If a librarian receives poor service or an underdeveloped prod-
uct, there are numerous listservs, conferences, and networks to which that
librarian can air grievances and hurt a vendor’s reputation. Because of this,
vendors often seek ways to get feedback and interact more with librarians.
Oftentimes, vendors w ill seek beta testers when they are trialing new
products. Volunteering to be a beta tester lets you make suggestions for
the interface, get one-on-one help with trouble spots, and develop some
good contacts in the technical side of the company. The best way to be
invited to beta test is by reporting problems thoroughly and courteously
when they arise and by asking questions of sales representatives that show
you’ve researched the product they’re selling beforehand. Of course, if
16 The ABCs of ERM
representatives mention that they are creating a new product or platform,

volunteering to help beta test is a good idea, too.
Vendors also hold open feedback sessions on products, often at larger
conferences, but occasionally at consortia annual meetings or smaller, more
specialized state meetings. Be on the lookout for feedback sessions hosted
by those vendors whom your library works with regularly. They’re often
called “vendor sponsored sessions,” and they provide a good way for you
to start a relationship with a vendor.
If you are interested in talking to a specific vendor, invite them to your
library to have a conversation. Vendors often tour around their states and
will look to make appointments with your library. Depending on the struc-
ture of your library, you might be the main contact; alternatively, they
might communicate to someone e lse, like your library director or head of
collections. Be sure to talk to the librarians who hold these positions in
your library and let them know you want to be invited to in-person meet-
ings, conference calls, and webinars with vendors. And when you are
invited, be sure to spend some time beforehand exploring the products
and coming up with a few questions for the vendor.
Finally, one of the most in-depth and influential ways you can build rela-
tionships with vendors is by serving on an advisory board. Advisory
boards are generally formal groups created by companies whose purposes
range from advising on the general strategy of the company to focusing on
specific products or platforms. Boards generally advise on product devel-
opment and improvement, marketing research and strategy, and unmet
needs of the community.
For librarians, serving on a board is a chance to give advice and sug-
gestions directly to a company and to see new products before they hit the
general market. The behind-the-scenes perspective gives board members
a clearer understanding of current market trends and pressures that ven-
dors might be facing.
It should be noted that usually you need to have a strong relationship
with a vendor, cultivated through the other methods mentioned in this
chapter, before you are asked to join an advisory board, because vendors
tend to ask people they know well and whose opinions they feel are
thoughtful and insightful. Don’t despair if you are not asked to join an advi-
sory board in your first few years. Building these kinds of relationships
takes time.
Jumpstarting Relationships at a New Library

Beginning a new job or getting the new responsibility of managing elec-
tronic resources often leaves a librarian scrambling to dig up information
known by previous staff. Finding out the names of your vendor contacts
and reaching out to the ones your library considers important is a vital
early step. How do you figure out which vendors are “important”? Brevig
(2008, 22–32) suggests examining a vendor’s complexity and criticalness.
Complexity, she says, is how many individual relationships one must
maintain with a vendor, the variety of products you subscribe to, and how
fragmented the company is. Criticality is the negative impact on your
library if you did not license a product from a vendor.
With t hese ideas in mind, start by going through a list of your electronic
resources. You can find lists like this in a knowledge base, if your library
has one; your database A–Z list; or a list of licenses that are currently active.
As you go through, make note of which vendors supply the most content
to your library. If you can, also determine with whom you spend the most
money. Finally, think about any special populations or needs you are serv-
ing and identify the resources that specifically fill those needs. The ven-
dors that come out on top in t hese questions are the ones you should focus
on contacting within your first few months on the job.
When contacting those chosen vendors, the simplest way is to send an
email that introduces who you are and explains what your role at the library
is in terms of working with vendors. Ask if you could e ither meet at your
library or at an upcoming conference. Most vendors w ill be delighted that
you’ve proactively reached out, and this w ill begin your communication
on a positive footing.
Negotiating with Vendors

Developing a strong relationship with vendors not only can help you
influence products and fix problems more quickly, but it can also build a
strong foundation for one of the more challenging parts of being a librar-
ian involved in electronic resource management: negotiation. This is the
process of mutual give and take in which two or more parties seek to find
an outcome that is acceptable to all concerned. It does not mean a process
in which everyone leaves happy, and it does not mean a process in which
one side wins while the other loses.
This process of negotiation is often required for librarians, but is rarely
taught in library school. As Ashmore, Grogg, and Weddle (2012, 22–25)
point out, most librarians feel that negotiation is a scary, conflict-filled
thing. This section w ill teach you some models and best practices that w ill
help you face negotiation with more confidence.
Depending on your library, you might be called to negotiate with ven-
dors directly; you might be part of a negotiation team; or negotiation might
mostly take place at a higher level of the organization, or even offsite
18 The ABCs of ERM
through a consortium. At some point in your career in this field, however,

you w ill likely find yourself needing to negotiate something with a ven-
dor. The negotiation of appropriate terms governing resource use, legal
rights, and business terms, generally encapsulated in a document referred
to as the license, is one of two main areas where Electronic Resources
Librarians need to negotiate. The other main area is the price of a prod-
uct. This negotiation more regularly happens at the library director or head
of collections level, but the methods of negotiation work for both.
Note that this chapter deals with general advice on negotiating. See
Chapter 3 for the gritty details of licenses.
Adopting the Negotiation Mind-Set

Negotiation does not have to be scary, but it takes practice. Though this
section contains good advice that has helped many librarians who fre-
quently engage in negotiation with vendors, there is no magic formula
that w ill work e very time. Therefore, look for chances to practice and
observe negotiation.
If you have recently been tasked with negotiations as part of your job,
or if you want to grow in confidence, ask to observe other negotiations that
might take place in your library. T hese don’t necessarily need to be nego-
tiations for electronic resources; any price negotiation w ill do, perhaps for
new furniture or spine labels. If you are the only negotiator in your library,
try to find another librarian, perhaps one from a local library, who has done
negotiation before, and ask if you can do mock negotiations with them for
practice.
Practice and observation are important, but—according to the main
writers about library negotiation (Ashmore et al. 2012; Dygert & Parang
2013)—the most important determiner of success is mind-set. When enter-
ing a negotiation, it is vital that you remember that the negotiation is about
the deal in front of you. It is not, in any sense, personal. Though you can be
confident, strong, or even forceful in your suggestions, you should never
feel personally angry or hurt during a negotiation.
To help facilitate the right mind-set, start your own negotiation in a pro-
fessional, confident, and friendly manner. Remember that you share with
vendors the goal of making content accessible to patrons. Approaching a
negotiation in a nonantagonistic, nonpersonal manner w ill help you keep
your focus on the ultimate goal of the whole process: meeting your library’s
needs.
Of course, sometimes t hings can get heated, and taking criticism or per-
haps antagonism from the other side is not easy. If you do start to take it
personally, ask to step away from the negotiation for a time. This could be
am atter of leaving the room for five minutes and getting a drink of water,
or it could mean restarting the negotiation on a different day. If the situa-
tion does not get any better, and especially if you feel that the other par-
ties are not acting in a professional manner, you are within your rights to
report this to their management and request an alternative person. You can
only bring the best mind-set you can.
Theories of Negotiation
Much of the theory shared in library negotiation guides, such as Gate-
way to Good Negotiation: From Computer Mediated Communication to Playing
Hardball by Ashmore et al. (2012), Honing Your Negotiation Skills by Parang
and Dygart (2013), and Buying and Selling Information: A Guide for Informa-
tion Professionals and Salespeople to Build Mutual Success by Gruenberg (2014),
comes from outside the library world, and the terminology may be unfa-
miliar to most librarians. T hese methods and theories can help you think
about your negotiation in a more organized way and are mentioned repeat-
edly in other texts concerning negotiation. This section w ill introduce
you to their basic principles.
Method One: Principled Negotiation
This method of negotiation comes out of the book Getting to Yes: Nego-
tiating Agreement without Giving In, by Fischer, Ury, and Patton (1991). It
has five main principles:
Separate the People from the Problem. This is another way of saying that nego-
tiations are not personal. Both parties are trying to solve a problem, and per-
sonal feelings should be left out of the equation. Techniques to achieve this
include trying to put yourself in the opposite party’s position; acknowledg-
ing emotions when they arise and being willing to discuss them; and engag-
ing in active listening, including paraphrasing o thers’ statements to check
for understanding.
Focus on Interests, Not Positions. This principle asks you to try to understand
what core company interests lie b ehind a position. If a person states a posi-
tion, ask “Why or why not?” Instead of challenging a position, state “yes and,”
followed by your own thoughts. See if you can get to their interests, and be
willing to also openly discuss your own interests. Once interests are clear,
discuss them, acknowledging the validity of both parties’ interests.
Invent Options for Mutual Gain. Before you give up, invent a potential alterna-
tive solution that gets at their interests while protecting your own. Use phrases
20 The ABCs of ERM
like “what if” to test out solutions. Be willing to try a lot of different solu-
tions. Use a brainstorming process between parties as you try to develop solu-
tions, and do not get fixated on a single answer. Once many solutions are
proposed, look through the solutions together and agree on the most appro-
priate ones.
Insist on Using Objective Criteria. This principle means that you should develop
some sort of standard or checklist of things that must be part of an agree-
ment before entering negotiation. This w ill allow you to fall back on your
document when you are trying to hold up your own position.
Know Your BATNA (Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement). A BATNA is
a term you w ill see thrown around a lot. It refers to your alternative solution,
should you be unable to reach an agreement. One good way to think about
it is to consider how you would meet a need if the product under negotiation
were not available. Have a BANTA defined clearly before entering negotia-
tion. This w
ill allow you to recognize when the negotiated solution becomes
worse (in terms of price, labor, conforming to your objective standards, or
meeting needs of your patrons) than the BATNA. This is the point where you
walk away from the negotiation. For example: You might be negotiating a
package deal for a group of e-books. Your BATNA might be that you could
go with an e-book aggregator for at least part of the content.
Method Two: The WHAT Method
This method of negotiation has four main principles:
W: What, What Else, Why, and What For? This is the step where you make
sure you understand why the other party is invested in its position. This is
also where you seek to clarify any parts of the agreement being negoti-
ated that you do not understand. In short, your first step is to ask a lot of
questions.
H: Hypothesize. This is the brainstorming phase, where you suggest possible
solutions to help solve points of disagreement. You come up with a lot of
ideas, but do not commit to any particular one.
A: Answers. This is the phase where you provide answers for the vendor in
terms of your own interests and positions. Even though you are in the answer
stage, d
on’t be afraid to ask more questions; in fact, it is often best to follow
up a question with another question. For example, if the vendor asks you
what price is acceptable, ask the vendor what prices other peer institutions
are receiving.
T: Tell Me More. When you answer their questions with more questions, or
when you are initially asking questions, listen actively to their answers and
prompt them to elaborate. Do not be afraid of silence, as pauses can lead to
further revelations.
Tips and Techniques

Understanding the concepts of WHAT, principled negotiation, BATNA,
and the power of mind-set are all powerful tools to bring to negotiation.
Although your own style of negotiation w ill develop over time, the following
techniques may be helpful. Many of them incorporate the theories dis-
cussed earlier. The techniques are presented here in a linear fashion,
though it is important to note that negotiation is often a process in which
steps get repeated or jumbled.
Also note that this is an ideal process. The truth is that sometimes you
just do not have time to complete all these steps. Figure out which steps
are essential to your feeling of comfort in the negotiation process and which
steps you can sometimes skip.
Research the Company
You can better judge the company’s interests, and negotiate with more
empathy, when you do your research. It’s worth your time to ask these
questions:
• What is the company’s current position in the market?

• What is the company’s current profit margin?
• What deals have they offered to other similar libraries? (This could be tricky,
but it is still worth asking around!)
• What are their recent acquisitions?
Answers to t hese questions can give you ammunition as you push for your
own interests. You’ll glean valuable information from company profiles,
found in databases such as Hoovers, PrivCo, Mergent Online, and Morn-
ingstar. Don’t be afraid to ask friendly business librarians how to use t hese
products.
Develop a Checklist
Make a checklist of terms and price caps that must be in an agreement.

This step ensures that you have objective guidelines to fall back on. Often
these checklists are developed for all negotiations a library performs,
though additional requirements can be added for certain situations.
In libraries, two main types of guidelines are generally used. The first
consists of price caps. T
hese set a limit on how much y ou’re to pay for a
product and how much of a price increase is acceptable from year to year
22 The ABCs of ERM
for continuing resources. For example, you might have a written policy
that you’ll automatically consider cancelling any resource that has a price
increase of more than 5 percent in a single year. The other guidelines tend
to focus on terms and w ill be discussed in Chapter 3.
Research Your Alternatives

In order to create your BATNA, you need to know which alternatives
exist. Look for reviews of other library products that might fill a similar
need in places like Library Journal or Choice. Talk to other vendors who
sell to a similar market and ask them questions about their competing
products. Investigate how much using something like document delivery
or interlibrary loan would cost compared to buying a product.
Strategize Beforehand
Create your main areas of negotiation before you enter a room or send
an e-mail. Make more suggestions, not fewer, to give you room for com-
promise. Be thorough when reading through a contract or other deal you
are negotiating, and write suggestions, alternative wordings, possible com-
promises, and questions on the document.
If you are unsure about what something means, be sure to highlight it
and write down a question so you remember to ask. D on’t be afraid to cover
a document in comments and red ink. Making more suggestions w ill give
you more room to negotiate, as you can compromise on some of the less
important points in exchange for standing firm on the essentials.
Commit to a Communication Style
Recognize your weaknesses, and stick with a communication style that

you feel strong in. Partner with t hose who can cover for you. Some p
eople
like to talk face to face, and some prefer email. Know the method of com-
munication you prefer and default to that. If you suffer from phone anxi-
ety and a vendor calls you, it’s polite to speak to them, but it’s perfectly
acceptable to arrange a time to talk in person or to ask if you may email
them a response later that day.
Go to the Source
Determine who among your vendor representatives has the decision-

making power and attempt to negotiate with them directly, rather than
with a surrogate. Often your contact w
ill be the sales representative.
Having a good relationship with the sales rep can make them a major advo-
cate for you and your needs, so use them!
However, sales reps often are not the ones who can make the final deci-
sions on price and contract terms. Be sure that you eventually talk directly
to the person (their boss or one of the company’s lawyers) who can make
these decisions. Try to email them or talk to them directly in order to
decrease miscommunication and speed up the process.
Give and Take
Recognize your essentials (which should be documented on your check-

list, described earlier). These are the terms you must have in order to
agree to a deal. Be willing to compromise, but make sure that you are clear
on what is necessary. For example, if you work at a state institution, you
may be forbidden to sign any agreements that put you under another state
or country’s legal jurisdiction. You w
ill be completely unable to budge on
any agreement that calls for a different area of jurisdiction, but you might
be able to compromise on a different aspect, such as interlibrary loan
availability.
Get It in Writing
Get all agreements in writing. Having only said something and shaken
hands does not make an agreement. With no documentation to prove that
something was agreed to, the other side can easily insist that they did not
agree to something or that they agreed to something slightly different. Even
if you do not have a formal license or contract, if you agree to anything,
such as price or even additional titles being added to a collection, make
sure you have that written down from the vendor. Following an in-person
or telephone discussion, it’s a good idea to soon thereafter email the ven-
dor with your understanding of the agreement, and to ask for a confirma-
tion email in return.
Delay Tactics Are Totally Acceptable
If something gets difficult, be willing to delay. “I w ill have to ask my

boss” is a good strategy. Sometimes you need to bring in a lawyer. If you
feel pressured to do something you are unsure of, if the other negotiator is
refusing to listen to your compromise or is acting in a rude or belligerent
manner, or if they do not agree to enter into any kind of negotiation, real-
ize that you can always delay and say you need to consult with others
at your library. You may even need time to consult with the lawyer
24 The ABCs of ERM
representing your institution (most colleges have a university attorney, and

public libraries have the city or county infrastructure).
Be Prepared to Walk Away
Sometimes you c an’t come to an agreement. Sometimes you realize your

BATNA is better. Sometimes one of your essentials w ill not be met. Some-
times your lawyer w ill say you can’t agree to terms. You should be willing
to walk away, and mean it. This can often get a vendor to reconsider the
point of contention—and if not, b ecause you have alternatives, you can
still move forward with a new plan.
Conclusion
Developing and maintaining good relationships with library vendors is
crucial. Sometimes the work is easy—chatting together about new products
or grabbing a cup of coffee—and sometimes the work is intense. Learn-
ing about their companies and their products takes time, and negotiating
with your sales reps can be an intimidating prospect. Use the advice in this
chapter to give yourself a confidence boost for all of your interactions with
vendors, from the conference hall to the negotiating t able.
Additional Readings
Brooks, Sam. 2006. “Introduction: The Importance of Open Communication
Between Libraries and Vendors.” Journal of Library Administration 44,
no. 3–4: 1–4.
Flowers, Janet L. 2004. “Specific Tips for Negotiations with Library Materials Ven-
dors Depending upon Acquisitions Method.” Library Collections, Acquisi-
tions, & Technical Services 28, no. 4: 433–448.
Fries, James R., and John R. James. 2006. “Library Advisory Boards: A Survey of
Current Practice Among Selected Publishers and Vendors.” Journal of
Library Administration 44, no. 3–4: 84–93.
Ginanni, Katy, et al. 2015. “Yer Doin’ It Wrong: How NOT to Interact with Ven-
dors, Publishers, or Librarians.” Serials Librarian 68, no. 1–4: 255–261.
Johnson, Peggy. 2014. “Conducting Business with E-Content and Serv ice Sup-
pliers.” In Developing and Managing Electronic Collections: The Essentials.
Chicago: ALA Publications. 83–100.
Raley, Sarah, and Jean Smith. 2006. “Community College Library/Vendor Rela-
tions: You Can’t Always Get What You Want . . . Or Can You?” Journal of
Library Administration 44, no. 3–4: 187–202.
Stamison, Christine, Bob Persing, Chris Beckett, and Chris Brady. 2009. “What
They Never Told You About Vendors in Library School.” Serials Librarian
56, no. 1–4: 139–145.
References
Ashmore, Beth, Jill E. Grogg, and Jeff Weddle. 2012. Librarian’s Guide to Negotia-
tion: Winning Strategies for the Digital Age. Medford: Information T oday, Inc.
Brevig, Armand. 2008. “Getting Value from Vendor Relationships.” Searcher 16,
no. 9: 28–34.
Carlson, David H. 2006. “Introduction: Forging Lasting Symbiotic Relationships
Between Libraries and Vendors.” Journal of Library Administration 44,
no. 3–4: 5–10.
Dygert, Claire T., and Elizabeth Parang. 2013. “Honing Your Negotiation Skills.”
Serials Librarian 64, no. 1–4: 105–110.
Fischer, Roger, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton. 1991. Getting to Yes: Negotiating
Agreement Without Giving In. New York: Penguin Books.
Gruenberg, Michael L. 2014. Buying and Selling Information: A Guide for Informa-
tion Professionals and Salespeople to Build Mutual Success. Medford: Infor-
mation T oday, Inc.
Sutton, Sarah, et al. 2016. “Core Competencies for Electronic Resources Librari-
ans.” NASIG. http://w ww.n asig.org/site_page.cfm?pk_ a ssociation_web
page_menu=3 10&pk _association_webpage=1 225.
CHAPTER THREE
Licenses: The Fine Print
License negotiation is a common form of negotiation for Electronic

Resources Librarians, especially those who work in academic libraries.
Indeed, the core competencies for Electronic Resources Librarians pub-
lished by NASIG list knowledge of electronic resource licensing and nego-
tiation as one of the top 10 requirements for an Electronic Resources
position. Yet as they point out, it is the requirement least likely to be taught
in library schools.
Licenses can be defined as written contracts, agreed to by both parties,
that outline the legal rights and restrictions of the use of content. They cur-
rently are the main governing law for electronic resources, due to the model
of purchase for most electronic content. Because of the law of first sale, when
a library purchases a physical item, full and perpetual ownership of that
item is transferred to the library, with legal rights guided by the federal laws
of copyright and fair use. B ecause most electronic resources are rarely or
never locally hosted by the library, the library does not own these resources,
but instead leases access to them through a vendor.
Because of this, the default law covering the use of electronic resources
is contract law, in the form of licenses. T here has been some resistance to
this model by libraries, but at the moment, it is the most common way to
get access to resources. Contract law trumps standing federal law. This
means that what legal rights library users have can vary greatly by prod-
uct and can be much more restrictive than standard copyright. This change
in access makes the understanding of license terms essential for Electronic
Resources Librarians.
Although this chapter cannot include everything there is to know about
licenses, it hits the most important points:
Licenses: The Fine Print 27
• A Note on Public Libraries: Where license negotiation is comparatively

easygoing
• Preparing to Negotiate: Doing your homework
• Definitions and Examples: The lingo of licenses
• Authorized and Unauthorized Uses: Interlibrary loan; scholarly sharing;
printing, copying, and downloading; electronic reserves and course packs;
fair use
• Business Terms: Routine business transactions that help the library’s
processes
• E-book Licenses: Special terms and issues
• Streaming Media Licenses: Special terms and issues
• Current Trends in Licensing: Shared Electronic Resource Understanding
(SERU), ONIX-PL, and data and text mining
• You Are Not Alone: Additional resources
• Housekeeping: License management and preservation
The amount of negotiation you w ill need to do w

ill vary by job. In many
academic libraries, license negotiation is a given for librarians working with
electronic resources. In public libraries, negotiation might be handled more
by consortia or the state library system. But even if you don’t actively engage
in the negotiation of licenses, the ability to read licenses and understand
what they mean for your users is vital. This chapter is worth a read, whether
you currently negotiate licenses or not.
A Note on Public Libraries

Public libraries typically devote far less attention to licensing than do
their academic counterparts. If you work in a public library, the level of
detail in this chapter may seem like overkill, particularly for those public
libraries that do not h andle their own licenses. You do not need to be flu-
ent in the intricacies of negotiation if all of your electronic resources are
negotiated by a third party, such as a consortium or the state library.
But public libraries that handle some or all of their negotiations in house
often have a, shall we say, relaxed attitude toward negotiating. An attorney
w ill review the license to make sure there are no egregious legal problems,
but librarians commonly suggest few or no changes, accepting the license
precisely as the vendor presented it.
Public libraries that do not currently spend quality time reviewing and
negotiating licenses should evaluate their approach. It could be that change
is unnecessary, difficult, or undesirable, depending on the staffing and
28 The ABCs of ERM
culture of any given library. But a change in process may well be worth
the effort. The time and headache of negotiating can yield ample dividends
in the form of cost savings and superior terms.
Preparing to Negotiate
Before you dive into license negotiation at an institution, t here are a few
things you need to find out:
• Discover who has signatory authority at your library. Usually this w ill be the
library director or dean, the head of collections, or the l awyer or legal depart-
ment. Whatever you negotiate w ill need to go through the signatory author-
ity, so it’s important to know who that is.
• Inquire about the current legal climate at your institution and what specific
legal rules might be in place. Some libraries might have certain terms or
phrases that they w ill always try to remove or add. T
hese terms might come
from the library director, the library board, or state law. Ask your library
director and your institution’s lawyers what terms must be included, what
terms must be removed, and what terms are nice but not mandatory.
• Determine how to proceed should a vendor prove unwilling to agree to one
of the required terms. Depending on your institution, you might need to
directly involve lawyers, you might need to get permission from higher lev-
els to make an exception to standard procedure, or you might have to give
up on licensing the product.
Once you have gathered this information, you can create a document
called a licensing checklist or licensing guide. It should include, at a mini-
mum, four pieces of information:
• Examples of licensing language that should be changed. Your document

should describe why this language should be changed and provide sugges-
tions for possible modifications. Group these descriptions into three main
categories: required license elements, language that is unacceptable, and
license elements that are preferred but are not essential.
• Business terms. Include a list of business terms in a license that should be
included for the library’s own records. This includes information like price,
renewal cycle, authorization method, title lists, late fees, ownership, access
methods, and definitions of the licensee and licensor.
• Special rules. Identify special rules for specific types of licenses, like e-books,
streaming media, or click-through licenses.
• Special permissions. Explain how to get special permission for unaccept-
able language or lack of required language, if such a process exists.
You can create a licensing checklist or guide from scratch, or you can
also ask a library serving a similar population for their checklist, which
you can then modify. This latter option w ill save you a lot of work, obvi-
ously; just be sure it includes the elements described earlier.
Definitions and Examples

Finding out about your institution’s requirements and building off an
existing license document are good ways to start. Sometimes, however, you
may encounter license terms that are not yet accounted for in your insti-
tution’s existing licenses guidelines. It’s also possible that your institution
simply d oesn’t have guidelines. And even if y ou’re working with a good
set of guidelines, the person who wrote them might have struggled to
explain what different license terms mean.
To help, this section offers examples and definitions of license terms that
are confusing or that frequently need a lot of negotiation. This is not an
extensive list of every term that should be examined, as entire books have
been written about this topic; see the end of this chapter for some addi-
tional readings. But it is a good starting point to help you better understand
licenses and to assist with the creation of your own licensing guide.
Curing a Breach
A breach happens when e ither party violates the terms of the contract
in some way. Curing a breach is the act of fixing that violation. It describes
what e ither party w ill do to stop a breach from continuing and details any
legal or fiscal compensation the breaching party must provide.
For example, a vendor noticed that someone at the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro had downloaded over 200 resources within five
minutes. The vendor threatened to permanently shut off access and void
the contract. Fortunately, the university had successfully negotiated for a
30-day window for taking corrective actions and was able to resolve the
problem to everyone’s satisfaction within that time frame.
• Make sure that any breach language only refers to a material breach. A mate-
rial breach is a violation that occurs when a party knowingly goes directly
against a contract. The aggrieved party collects damages that result from that
one mistake, nothing more.
• Be sure to not allow the licensor to collect direct damages.
• Add in language (if it does not exist already) that gives the library 30 days to
remedy the breach themselves before any action against them is taken.
30 The ABCs of ERM
• If t here is any mention of terms like “irreparable harm from a breach,” attempt
to remove this language. This language allows the vendor to ask for far more
damages than the a ctual breach would justify.
Example of Language: “Either party may terminate this License by

written notice with immediate effect if the other party materially breaches
any of the terms and conditions of this License and/or the Copyright Pol-
icy and the License shall terminate forthwith where such breach cannot
be rectified, or if it can be rectified, the License s hall terminate where
the party in breach fails to rectify such breach within sixty (60) days of
receipt of the aforesaid notice stating the breach and the action required
to rectify it.”
Indemnification
“Indemnification” is legalese for “compensation.” In an indemnification
clause, one party agrees to hold the indemnified party harmless and will
not require them to pay any fees in case of a breach or any other legal matter.
If a library indemnifies a vendor, this means they relinquish the right to
seek damages against that vendor.
• In general, it is best to completely remove any clauses that require the library
to indemnify the vendor.
• If this is not possible, talk to your legal counsel about possible language refer-
ring to state laws that might overrule this and refer to them in the docu-
ment. This works especially well if you are at a state or federal institution.
• If you cannot get rid of it, also try to write in a clause that says you cannot
be held responsible for the actions of third-party users—that is to say, your
patrons.
Example of Language: “The licensee shall indemnify the licensor

against all claims, causes of action, losses, liabilities, and damages (includ-
ing costs and expenses of legal representatives) incurred by defending a
claim arising from: any unauthorized use or dissemination of the licensed
materials by the licensee or any authorized users.”
Warrantees
In library licenses, warranties are where the licensor guarantees that
they have the permission of copyright holders to license the materials
on offer.
• Problems can arise if the license does not list a warranty. You do not want to
be held liable for the licensor forgetting to get the correct permissions.
• If the license does not list a warranty, be sure to insert language (like that
provided in the following example) into the license.
Example of Language: “Licensor warrants to the Licensee that it is duly

licensed to use, in accordance with the terms and conditions hereof, the
Licensed Material and that the Licensed Material, if used as contemplated
in this License, does not knowingly infringe any copyright or other pro-
prietary or intellectual property rights of any natural or legal person.”
Jurisdiction
The jurisdiction clause states which laws govern this license and u
nder
what court system any legal disputes w
ill be settled.
• Be sure that the jurisdiction is listed as the state where your library is
located or that the license is s ilent on jurisdiction. Especially if you are at
a state-r un institution, having the wrong jurisdiction w ill generally be a
deal-breaker.
• This is an extremely common change that libraries have to make, because
many licensors list their own location as the governing jurisdiction.
Example of Language: “This Agreement shall be governed by and con-

strued in accordance with the laws of the State of [fill in your state h
ere].”
Authorized Users
This language defines who has permission to use the resources you
license.
• You want this to be as broad as possible.

• For academic licenses at public institutions, make sure you have the license
include walk-in users, meaning nonaffiliated members who are physically at
the library.
• For public libraries, make sure you define your users as anyone who has a
library card, as well as anyone who walks into the library building, even if
they d on’t have a card.
Be sure to have it include offsite users who would otherw ise be autho-
rized. In public libraries, this means library cardholders in good standing;
32 The ABCs of ERM
in academic libraries, this means current faculty, students, and staff, but
usually not alumni or retirees.
Example of Language: “ ‘Authorized Users’ means faculty staff and stu-
dents or users affiliated with the Licensee in some other capacity whereby
they are permitted by the Licensee to access such serv ices as are available
to faculty, staff, students, and library patrons w
hether from a computer or
terminal on the Licensee’s secure network or offsite via a modem link to
the Licensee’s secure network, as well as users at terminals located in the
library facilities of the Licensed Site.”
Limitation of Liability
Limitation of liability governs what kind of damages and the amount
to be paid to the licensee in a remedy for breach of the license. It is often
used by vendors to make sure they are not responsible for as much as they
might otherw ise be in a court of law.
• If possible, remove any limitation of liability.

• If not possible, you want to make sure that the limitation of liability men-
tioned in the contract does not contradict state and federal laws that are put
in place to govern contracts. In this case, add a phrase like “So far as permit-
ted by the law of the State of X” before the clause.
Example of Language: “Where permitted to do so by law, the licensor

limits its liability u
nder this license to the value of the initial fee and/or
any renewal fees paid to X during the previous twelve (12) months.”
Primacy of the Signed License

The presence of this language indicates that what is in the signed license
is the final say in all legal questions, no matter what any online terms of
use or previous emails have stated. It allows the library to refer to the license
if any legal disputes arise.
• The most common problem with this clause is its absence. If this language
is not present, be sure to add it to your license.
• You might also see statements that say that the licensor can make changes to
the terms at any time without notifying the licensee. Strike this language and
replace it with language that says something similar to “all changes to this
license must be submitted to the licensee and signed by both parties.”
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
„Wat wenscht gij?” vroeg hij met heesche stem op hoogmoedigen toon.
Raffles was naast de schrijftafel komen slaan, terwijl Charly bij de deur
was gebleven.
„Ik kom naar aanleiding van een droevige zaak,” sprak de groote
onbekende met veranderde stem. „Mijn naam is Edward Stanhope,
professor in de Anthropologie. Dus een collega van u, dr. Braddon.”
Hij legde voor den dokter een visitekaartje neer, dat den naam professor
Edward Stanhope droeg.
Dr. Braddon, wiens gelaat tot dusverre een onvriendelijke uitdrukking

had gehad, veranderde dadelijk en een beminnelijk, onderdanig
glimlachje speelde om zijn mond, toen hij antwoordde:
„Ik ben innig verheugd, kennis met u te maken. Ik meen uw naam

meermalen in wetenschappelijke tijdschriften te hebben gelezen,
professor. Waarmee kan ik u van dienst zijn?”
„Zooals ik zei,” herhaalde Raffles op ernstigen toon, „het is een treurige

aangelegenheid, die mij dwingt, u op te zoeken en uw hulp te vragen.
„Sta mij toe,” hij maakte een handbeweging in de richting van Charly
Brand, „u mijn assistent, dr. Harry Smith, voor te stellen.”
Dr. Braddon en Charly bogen en wisselden de gebruikelijke

beleefdheidswoorden.
„Ik veronderstel, dat het om een zieke te doen is”, sprak dr. Braddon.
„Juist,” antwoordde Raffles, „om mijn broer. Ik heb hem een jaar lang bij
mij aan huis laten verplegen en zou hem ook niet laten heengaan, maar
een reis naar Borneo dwingt mij, hem eenigen tijd aan andere handen
toe te vertrouwen. Een wetenschappelijk doel, een belangrijke
ontdekking betreffende, noodzaakt mij, deze reis te ondernemen.
„Misschien hebt gij, dr. Braddon, reeds gehoord, dat op Borneo, evenals
in Frankrijk, een schedelopgraving heeft plaats gehad, die waarschijnlijk
van oudere tijden spreekt dan alles wat tot dusverre op dat gebied is
ontdekt.
„Ik zelf heb voor ons wetenschappelijk museum meerdere menschelijke

schedels in de steengroeve te Lausanne gevonden en zou de
gelegenheid, welke deze nieuwe ontdekking aanbiedt, niet willen laten
voorbijgaan en misschien een nieuw, testbaar resultaat voor [7]het
bestaan der menschen in de ijsperiode te verkrijgen.”
Hij zweeg even en vervolgde na een poosje:
„Neem mij niet kwalijk, dr. Braddon, de belangstelling in mijn vak leidt mij
geheel van de reden mijner komst af.
„Om dus weer op mijn broer terug te komen, ik ben van plan, u den
zieke gedurende mijn afwezigheid toe te vertrouwen.”
„Zeer aangenaam,” sprak dr. Braddon verheugd met een buiging. „Het
zal uw broer bij mij aan niets ontbreken, professor. Mag ik vragen, welke
ziekteverschijnselen, zich bij uw broer voordoen?”
Raffles kuchte en sprak:
„Een bijzonder geval. Het is merkwaardig, welke ideeën zich in een ziek
brein kunnen nestelen.
„Mijn broer is jurist. Zijn vermogen staat hem toe, zonder een beroep uit
te oefenen, verder te studeeren. Ik heb reeds in de jeugd van mijn broer
vreemde gedachten bij hem opgemerkt, maar heb toch nooit vermoed,
dat het zoover met hem zou komen. Zijn ideaal is altijd geweest om zich
bezig te houden met het ontdekken van zware misdaden.
„Een jaar geleden deelde hij mij mede, dat zijn theorieën hem niet meer
bevredigden en dat hij zich in de practijk wilde bezighouden met het
opsporen van misdaden.
„Maandenlang was hij uit mijn huis verdwenen en ik weet op het
oogenblik nog niet, waar hij zich heeft opgehouden. In het kort, op
zekeren avond verscheen hij in mijn studeerkamer in de kleeren van een
beambte van politie, die hij bij den een of anderen uitdrager had gekocht
en sprak tot mij:
„„Ik verklaar u in naam der wet als mijn gevangene. Ik ben inspecteur
van politie Baxter uit Londen.”
„Ik lachte erom, want ik dacht, dat mijn broer schertste.
„Maar helaas, ik zag weldra in, dat zijn optreden treurige werkelijkheid
was, dat mijn broeder krankzinnig was geworden.”
Dr. Braddon knikte met het hoofd en sprak:
„Een dergelijk geval komt hier dikwijls voor. Een idee fixe.
Vervolgingswaanzin! Is uw broer kwaadaardig?”
„Hoe meent gij dat?” vroeg Raffles.
„Ik bedoel, als men hem tegenspreekt, dat hij de Londensche inspecteur
van politie is, dan begint hij te razen en te tieren, nietwaar?”
„Ja,” antwoordde Raffles, „af en toe heeft hij zich zelfs voorzien van
revolvers en andere wapenen en mijn assistent en ik moesten veel
moeite aanwenden om hem te kalmeeren.”
„Een dergelijken patiënt mag men nooit tegenspreken,” sprak dr.

Braddon, „dat is helaas een ongeneeslijke ziekte. Wanneer denkt gij af
te reizen, professor?”
„Reeds over eenige dagen,” antwoordde Raffles, „ik moet u daarom

verzoeken, mijn broeder reeds morgen in uw inrichting op te nemen.”
„Ik heb op het oogenblik een zeer mooie kamer disponibel,” vertelde dr.
Braddon, in een boek bladerend, dat op zijn schrijftafel lag. „Het is no.
310; die kamer kost met verpleging eerste klasse en een bijzonderen
bewaker driehonderd pond sterling per maand.
„Ik neem geen patiënten aan, zonder dat de prijs van een jaar is
vooruitbetaald. Ik verzoek u dus, professor, om aan mijn kassier het
bedrag van drieduizend zeshonderd pond sterling te betalen.
„Indien gij wenscht, dat uw broeder sigaren of alcoholische dranken

gebruikt, welke niet in de verpleging zijn begrepen, dan moet ik u
verzoeken, een extra bedrag te deponeeren. Voor eventueele bijzondere
uitgaven moet tweehonderd pond sterling worden betaald. Medicijnen
en, zoo noodig, medische behandeling, worden u in rekening gebracht.
„Kleeren, evenals lijfgoed, bedde- en tafellinnen moeten worden

meegebracht. Zoodra gij voor dit alles hebt gezorgd, ben ik bereid, uw
broeder in mijn inrichting op te nemen.”
„Goed”, sprak Raffles, „ik zal u morgenochtend [8]het gewenschte door

mijn bediende laten brengen en morgenmiddag zal mijn broer bij u
komen. Daar hij, evenals alle dergelijke zieken, zeer wantrouwend is en
waarschijnlijk zou weigeren, onder mijn geleide hier te komen, verzoek ik
u, mij een brief voor hem mee te geven van den volgenden inhoud:
„Waarde Heer!
In zake een gewichtige misdaad verzoek ik u om mij in den middag tusschen 4

en 5 uur te willen bezoeken.
Hoogachtend, enz.”
„Ik zal het bedrag van duizend pond sterling dadelijk bij u deponeeren en
de rest morgen door mijn bediende u toezenden.”
Raffles zag, hoe dr. Braddon met begeerige oogen het biljet van duizend
pond, dat de groote onbekende uit zijn portefeuille nam, opstreek.
Dr. Braddon schreef hiervoor een kwitantie.

Daarop ham hij een vel papier, met zijn naam bedrukt, en schreef wat
Raffles verlangde.
Met beleefde woorden namen de bezoekers afscheid. Toen zij het

bureau hadden verlaten, grijnslachte dr. Braddon, wreef zich vergenoegd
de handen en sprak:
„De zaak bloeit! Nu is de laatste vrije kamer weer bezet.
„Er zijn meer gekken in de wereld dan ik kamers heb om ze te

herbergen.”
Raffles had intusschen in een huurrijtuig plaats genomen en reed terug

naar zijn huis aan het Waterlooplein.
Ook hij was zeer tevreden en sprak tot Charly Brand:
„De val is gezet, mijn lieve Braddon, morgen klapt ze dicht.”
[Inhoud]
DERDE HOOFDSTUK.
TWEE HEEREN DIENEN.
Den volgenden voormiddag verliet Raffles zijn woning, vermomd als een
bediende van deftigen huize.
Met een hoogmoedige en dombrutale uitdrukking op het gelaat ging hij

naar verschillende winkels in linnengoederen en kocht de door dr.
Braddon verlangde uitrusting voor inspecteur Baxter.
Daarop nam hij een rijtuig en reed met het pakket naar de inrichting van
dr. Braddon.
Hij werd in een kantoor gebracht, waar men hem het goed afnam.
Daarop ging hij naar de kas, om het nog ontbrekende bedrag te betalen.
Toen hij de quitantie had ontvangen, kwam de bediende van dr. Braddon
uit de wachtkamer en meldde:
„Dr. Braddon wenscht u te spreken.”
„Mijn tijd is zeer beperkt,” antwoordde Raffles met het domverwaande

gezicht van een deftigen bediende. „Ik heb nog veel te doen.”
„Het zal maar eenige minuten duren,” meende de bediende van den
dokter. [9]
Raffles volgde hem in de studeerkamer van zijn meester. Dr. Braddon

zat weer aan zijn schrijftafel en zonder Raffles, die als een welopgevoed
ondergeschikte bij de deur bleef staan, dichterbij te laten komen, vroeg
hij:
„Hoe lang zijt gij al in dienst bij professor Stanhope?”
„Reeds tien jaar,” antwoordde Raffles.

„Zoo, zoo,” antwoordde Braddon, schijnbaar in verschillende papieren
snuffelend. „Rijke familie?”
„Ja,” antwoordde Raffles, „maar het spijt mij u te moeten zeggen, dat ik
mij niet gaarne over mijn meester laat uithooren.”
„Praat geen nonsens,” bulderde dr. Braddon hem toe.
„Groet mijnheer den professor en zeg hem, dat ik zijn broer op den
afgesproken tijd, vanmiddag tusschen 4 en 5, verwacht. Zeg eens,
bedient gij den broer, den patiënt?”
„Ja,” antwoordde Raffles, „en ik zal mijnheer vanmiddag zelf brengen. Hij
volgt mij in alles. Ik kan heel goed met hem opschieten.”
„Het is goed. Gij kunt gaan.”
Raffles verdween en begaf zich naar zijn huis terug.
Het was tegen half vier in den namiddag, toen Raffles, nog steeds als
bediende verkleed, met hetzelfde verwaande uiterlijk als des morgens,
zich tot den dienstdoenden beambte in Scotland Yard wendde en dezen
meedeelde, dat hij een brief persoonlijk aan inspecteur Baxter moest
overhandigen. Argeloos bracht de beambte hem naar den chef der
Londensche politie.
Raffles bleef beleefd voor den inspecteur staan, maakte een buiging en
sprak:
„Compliment van mijn meester en ik moet u dezen brief geven.”
Inspecteur Baxter nam den brief, die den vorigen dag door dr. Braddon
was geschreven en las hem.
„Wenscht gij antwoord mee te hebben?” vroeg de inspecteur.

„Gaarne,” antwoordde Raffles, „ik kreeg opdracht, mijnheer den
inspecteur dadelijk mee te brengen.”
„Allright,” sprak Baxter, „er schijnt iets gewichtigs bij u te zijn

voorgevallen. Ik zal dadelijk met u meegaan.”
Hij maakte zich gereed en volgde Raffles.
Deze riep een auto aan, opende het portier en bleef met zijn hoed in de
hand staan, totdat de inspecteur in den wagen had plaats genomen.
Daarop sloot Raffles de deur en nam naast den chauffeur plaats, als een
goed geschoold bediende, met gekruiste armen.
Na een rit van een half uur hield de auto stil voor de inrichting van dr.
Braddon.
Weer opende Raffles het portier der auto, opnieuw nam hij zijn hoed af
voor den uitstappenden inspecteur van politie en daarna ging hij hem
voor het gebouw binnen.
Dr. Braddon verwachtte hen reeds.
Raffles bracht den inspecteur door de kleine voorkamer, klopte aan de

deur van het studeervertrek, opende deze en diende aan: inspecteur van
politie Baxter uit Londen.
Op dit oogenblik drukte dr. Braddon op een electrisch knopje, dat zich
onder zijn bureau bevond en gaf daardoor een teeken aan de in het
souterrain gelegen verplegerskamer.
Hij drukte driemaal en dit beteekende drie verplegers.
Al naarmate hij de lichaamskracht van den patiënt taxeerde, liet hij een
of meer verplegers komen. Dr. Braddon stond uit zijn stoel op en ging
den inspecteur tegemoet.
Met een vriendelijk glimlachje reikte hij hem een hand en sprak:
„Ik ben zeer verheugd, heer inspecteur van politie, dat gij gevolg hebt
gegeven aan mijn brief en ik verzoek u, plaats te nemen.”
Baxter ging zitten en antwoordde:
„Ik moet u verzoeken, doctor, de zaak zoo snel mogelijk te behandelen,

daar ik heden nog met mijn [10]rechercheurs een groote misdaad moet
behandelen.”
Dr. Braddon glimlachte goedig.
„De zaak zal spoedig opgeknapt zijn, inspecteur, en ik hoop, dat gij
tevreden over mij zult zijn.”
„Waarover handelt het?” vroeg Baxter vol belangstelling.
De stoel, waarop de bezoeker zat, was een uitvinding van dr. Braddon
en zoo ingericht, dat men weerspannige patiënten er gemakkelijk op
vast kon binden.
Achter de rugleuning was een onzichtbare deur aangebracht. De op den

stoel zittende kon dus niet zien, wanneer deze geopend werd.
Door die deur waren onhoorbaar, op schoenen met gummizolen, drie

forschgebouwde verplegers binnengekomen en wachtten op een wenk,
om zich op inspecteur Baxter te werpen en dezen te boeien.
Nu hief dr. Braddon zijn arm op, ten teeken, dat de inspecteur moest
worden weggebracht.
Baxter, die zich juist begon te verbazen, dat dr. Braddon geen antwoord
gaf, kreeg dit op onverwachte wijze. Op het teeken van den dokter
sprongen de drie bewakers naar den inspecteur toe, en voordat deze
een kreet kon slaken, was hij op zijn stoel vastgesnoerd, zoodat hij zich
op geen enkele manier kon bewegen.
„Wat wilt gij van mij? Zijt gij gek?” riep Baxter uit, woest om zich heen
slaande.
„Voor den duivel! Laat mij los! Ik ben de inspecteur van Scotland Yard!”
„Zeker, zeker,” lachte Braddon, „gij zijt de inspecteur van politie van
Scotland Yard. Daaraan twijfelen wij geen oogenblik. En daarom moet
gij, om een misdaad aan het licht te brengen, eenigen tijd uw tenten bij
mij opslaan.”
„Vervloekt Sir! daarvoor is het toch niet noodig om mij als een
krankzinnige te boeien.”
„Laat dat maar aan mij over,” sprak dr. Braddon. „Brengt hem weg.”
De verplegers tilden den van handvatten voorzienen stoel met den

vastgebonden inspecteur van politie op en droegen den patiënt, die nu
luid brullend begon te vloeken, uit de kamer.
Nu keerde Braddon zich om en zag den bij de deur wachtenden

bediende, die zijn zakdoek voor de oogen hield en snikte.
„Huil niet!” sprak dr. Braddon.
„Mijn goede heer— —mijn beste, brave heer!—” riep Raffles uit.
„Hij blijft slechts eenige minuten in den stoel,” stelde dr. Braddon den
bediende gerust.
„Zoodra hij gekalmeerd is, wordt hij losgelaten en bevindt zich dan in
een zeer goed ingerichte kamer. Meld nu den professor, dat zijn broer
goed bezorgd is.”
Raffles maakte een buiging en verliet de inrichting.
Toen hij thuis was, sprak hij tot Charly Brand:

„Nu is Scotland Yard zonder inspecteur van politie en opdat dit niet
opvalt, zal ik mij telefonisch met Scotland Yard in verbinding stellen en
daar meedeelen, alsof ik inspecteur Baxter was, dat ik verscheiden
dagen buiten Londen moet blijven. Ook zijn familie zal ik dit bericht doen
toekomen.
„De val is dicht, dr. Braddon!” [11]
[Inhoud]
VIERDE HOOFDSTUK.
IN HET KRANKZINNIGENGESTICHT.
Inspecteur Baxter kon nu persoonlijk ervaren, wat het zeggen wil om

voor de overmacht te moeten bukken.
Op het hoofdbureau van politie bracht men verstokte misdadigers

zonder erbarming in een donkere cel, waar zij met knuppels en
gummistokken zoolang bewerkt werden, tot zij een bekentenis aflegden,
of murw geslagen werden.
Dat noemde men den derden graad toepassen.
Toen de bewakers hem van den stoel losbonden om hem naar zijn
kamer te brengen, stortte hij zich op den dichtstbijstaande, sloeg dezen
neer en wilde zich op den tweede werpen, toen een half dozijn mannen
hem beetpakten en hem, ondanks wanhopigen tegenstand, in een cel
voor gevaarlijke krankzinnigen wierpen.
Uit dit vensterlooze, door dikke muren omgeven vertrek, waarheen

dubbele deuren toegang gaven, tusschen welke een bewaker kon staan
om den in de cel opgeslotene te bespieden, drong geen enkel geluid.
De parketvloer was spiegelglad geboend, opdat de voeten van den

ongelukkige geen steunpunt vonden.
De bewakers daarentegen, met hun gummizolen, stonden er vast op.
In een dergelijke cel brachten de bewakers den inspecteur en ranselden

zoolang op hem, totdat hij in een hoek lag en om genade smeekte.
„Allright”, sprak de hoofdverpleger, „nu ken je onze manieren. Neem je

voortaan in acht en denk niet, dat je met ons kunt doen wat je wilt. Hier
zijn wij de baas en als je nog eens lust mocht krijgen om met ons te
beginnen, dan hebben wij nog betere dwangmiddelen. Denk daaraan.”
Inspecteur Baxter zag in, dat verzet tegen de overmacht hem niets zou
baten. Hij besloot dus, zich door list te helpen.
Men had hem de kleeren uitgetrokken en een dwangbuis aangedaan.

Dat was van onscheurbaar dril en zonder naad gemaakt en werd op den
rug met zoogenaamde patentknoopen gesloten. De mouwen waren een
halve meter te lang en konden zoodanig geknoopt worden, dat de
persoon, die het buis droeg zijn armen en handen niet kon gebruiken.
Een met lucht gevulde zak lag in een hoek der cel als slaapgelegenheid.
Hier liet men den nieuwen patiënt twee dagen lang. Daarop kwam dr.
Braddon, vergezeld door den hoofdverpleger, bleef in de deur staan en
sprak:
„Breng den man nu naar zijn kamer. Zoodra hij zich wederom
weerspannig mocht toonen, wordt hij in de keldercel opgesloten.”
„Ik maak er u attent op,” sprak Baxter, „dat gij de gevolgen van uw
handelwijze moet afwachten. Aan mij is een misdaad begaan; ik ben niet
krankzinnig en even verstandig als gij. Ik herhaal u, dat ik de inspecteur
van politie van Scotland Yard ben.”
Dr. Braddon antwoordde met een glimlach.
„Goed, goed, ik weet, dat gij de inspecteur van Scotland Yard zijt en gij
bevindt u bij mij in uitstekend gezelschap. Gij zult bij mij den Koning van
Engeland, den Keizer van Rusland en andere allerhoogste potentaten
aantreffen, zelfs is de lieve God bij mij.
„Ik zou niet weten, waarom gij, als inspecteur van politie, niet evengoed
verblijf bij mij zoudt houden. [12]
„Ik hoop, dat het u hier goed zal bevallen en dat wij de beste vrienden
zullen worden.”
Dr. Braddon verliet de cel en inspecteur Baxter werd naar zijn kamer op
de vierde verdieping gebracht.
Het was een vertrek met verschillende bedden, in het midden stond een
groote tafel, waaraan eenige verplegers zaten te kaartspelen.
Op een leeren sofa hadden verscheiden ongelukkigen plaats genomen,

die den binnentredende inspecteur met groote oogen aankeken.
„Hier is de nieuwe”, sprak de verpleger tot zijn collega’s, terwijl hij Baxter
naar binnenduwde.
„De kerel verbeeldt zich, de Londensche inspecteur van politie te zijn.”
„Dien kunnen wij hier juist gebruiken,” antwoordde de hoofdverpleger

van de afdeeling en naderde den binnentredende.
Hij pakte hem ruw beet en spotte:
„Wel, inspecteur van politie? Blij, kennis met je te maken, leelijke hond!
Je zult het goed bij mij hebben. Wij leeren elkaar hier beter kennen dan
wanneer ik bij bij jou in Scotland Yard was. Ik sla je al je tanden uit je
bek, als je mij gevangen wilt nemen. En ga nu op de sofa zitten en geef
geen geluid, anders zal je eens wat ondervinden.
„Ik houd van rust, denk daaraan!”
Baxter antwoordde geen woord, maar ging naast de ongelukkige zieken

op de sofa zitten, terwijl de verplegers, ruw vloekend, verder speelden.
Wel een uur lang had hij zoo gezeten, toen een der patiënten met
haperende stem begon te bidden.
„Stilte!” gebood dé hoofdverpleger den man. „Vervloekte schijnheilige,

wil je zwijgen?”
Maar de patiënt, die aan godsdienstwaanzin leed, lette niet op dit
verbod, stond op en bad verder.
Toen een der verplegers hem op de sofa terug wilde duwen, sloeg hij
met zijn hand naar dezen.
Dit was het teeken om den ongelukkige aan te vallen.
Als een bende wilde bandieten wierpen de verplegers zich op den

patiënt, gooiden hem op een bed en begonnen hem onbarmhartig met
hun vuisten te slaan.
Dit benam Baxter zijn laatste kalmte.
Hij sprong op, greep een stoel en sloeg hiermee op de verplegers los.
En het gelukte den vier mannen niet, den woedenden en zich als dol
aanstellenden inspecteur te overweldigen.
Gillend moesten zij uit de kamer vluchten en andere verplegers te hulp

roepen.
Baxter wist, wat nu zou gebeuren. Hij schoof de bedden en tafels voor
de deur en barrikadeerde deze.
Daarop sloeg hij met een stoelpoot de vensterruit stuk en riep door de
opening luide om hulp.
Maar het vertrek lag niet aan den straatkant, maar kwam uit op de
binnenplaats.
Voor de deur waren de verplegers samengekomen en Baxter dacht elk

oogenblik, dat een nieuw gevecht zou beginnen.
Maar hij vergiste zich.
De verplegers hadden respect voor zijn kracht gekregen en wisten, dat

hij gewapend was.
Ook dr. Braddon, die bericht had gekregen, was verschenen.
Hij gaf nu aan, welke maatregelen genomen moesten worden om den

razenden Baxter onschadelijk te maken.
Boven de deur bevond zich een klein venster, dat diende om het licht
van een gasvlam, die op de gang brandde, in de kamer te doen
schijnen.
Dit venster werd nu geopend en een verpleger verscheen ervoor.
Hij bracht den mond van een waterslang in de kamer.
Voordat Baxter nog wist, wat de verpleger hiermee wilde doen, trof hem
een straal warm water dat hem tot op de huid nat maakte. [13]
Baxter trachtte, zich tegen den waterstraal te beschermen, maar dit was
te vergeefsch.
De kamer bood hem geen bescherming tegen het natte element.

Plotseling voelde de inspecteur, dat de straal al warmer en warmer werd,
totdat deze zoo heet was dat hij het bijna niet meer kon uithouden.
„Brand hem het vleesch van het lijf!” schreeuwde dr. Braddon.
Nu begreep Baxter het vreeselijke gevaar, waarin hij zich bevond.
De onmenschen hadden de waterslang aan de stoomverwarming van

het gebouw aangesloten met de bedoeling, den oproerigen patiënt te
verbranden.
Met een tafelblad als schild trachtte Baxter zich tegen het kokende water
te beschermen.
De patiënten, die zich met hem in de kamer bevonden, brulden van pijn,
want ook zij werden door de heete stralen getroffen.
„Verzuipt den geheelen troep”, riep de hoofdverpleger buiten.

Baxter zag in, dat hij tegen dit paardemiddel machteloos was en riep tot
den verpleger, die de slang vasthield:
„Houdt op, ik geef mij over!”
„Allright!” sprak dr. Braddon, die naast den verpleger op een ladder
stond, „maak de deur open!”
Inspecteur Baxter ruimde de voor de deur aangebrachte barricade weg

en wachtte, zonder zich verder te verdedigen, de verplegers af.
Als een bende jachthonden vlogen zij op hem aan, scheurden hem de
natte kleeren van het lichaam en trokken hem opnieuw een dwangbuis
aan.
„Dit is een moordenaarshol!” riep Baxter tot dr. Braddon, die het tooneel
stond aan te kijken.
„Slaat den kerel!” schreeuwde dr. Braddon en als hagelsteenen vielen de

vuistslagen op Baxter neer.
Daarop beval dr. Braddon:
„Brengt hem in den kelder en sluit hem aan. Wij zullen hem wel tam
krijgen. De hond brengt anders de geheele inrichting in opstand.”
Door acht verplegers werd Baxter nu naar den kelder gebracht en in een
vertrek geduwd, dat volkomen donker en ijskoud was.
Een electrische lamp aan de zoldering werd opgedraaid en Baxter zag

drie slachtoffers, die in verschillende hoeken van den kerker op den
steenen vloer lagen zonder iets om op te liggen en die met ijzeren ringen
zoodanig aan den vloer waren vastgemaakt, dat zij niets eens konden
opstaan.
Zij hieven een woest gebrul aan, toen de verplegers met Baxter
binnentraden.
„Beulsknechten!—moordenaars!—galgenhonden!—vervloekte
misdadigers!” riepen de gevangenen tot hun pijnigers.
Deze antwoordden met een ruwen lach.
De inspecteur van politie trachtte nog eenmaal om zich te verzetten; het

gelukte hem ook, twee zijner vijanden door trappen onschadelijk te
maken, maar daarop overweldigden de anderen hem en sloten hem aan
ijzeren ringen vast.
Nadat zij hem nog verscheiden vuistslagen hadden toegebracht en met

de voeten hadden getrapt, verlieten zij het vertrek, sloten de zware deur
achter zich dicht en draaiden het licht uit. De inspecteur van politie
bevond zich, als een wild dier onschadelijk gemaakt, in een vertrek,
zooals zijn phantasie het niet griezeliger kon uitdenken.
Hij had daar wel een kwartier gelegen, toen hij de stem van een zijner
lotgenooten in het donker hoorde, die tot hem riep:
„Waart gij ook zoo dwaas? Hebt ge u ook tegen die moordenaars willen
verzetten?”
„Ja”, antwoordde inspecteur Baxter, „Wie zijt gij?”
„Ik ben bankier Gulden”, antwoordde de stem, „en sinds drie dagen in dit
moordenaarshol. Mijn zoon heeft mij hierheen gebracht, om zich mijn
vermogen toe te eigenen en die schurk, dokter Braddon, helpt hem
erbij.”
„Wie zijt gij?”
Baxter dacht erover na, of hij den bankier zijn [14]werkelijken naam zou
meededen; hij zag geen enkele reden, om dien te verbergen en
antwoordde: „Ik ben de inspecteur van politie Baxter van Scotland Yard.”
„Wie zijt gij?” vroeg bankier Gulden met groote verbazing. „Zijt gij de
inspecteur van politie van Scotland Yard? Mijn hemel! Dan zijt gij de

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The ABCs of ERM: Demystifying

Electronic Resource Management for

Jessica Zellers, Tina M. Adams, and Katherine Hill

Chapter 1 So What Are Electronic Resources Anyway? 1

Chapter 4 Buy All the T

Step 1: Research What Has Already Been Done 86

Qualitative Assessments of Electronic Resources 122

Troubleshooting Scenarios 160

Professional Development 204

So What Are Electronic

Big Deals are bundled collections of e-­journals, usually marketed to academic

Databases are thematic collections of electronic resources. Some offer original

Who’s Who: The Major Players

The Electronic Resources Life Cycle

• Investigating New Content for Purchase/Addition: Your first step includes

NASIG Core Competencies

Life Cycle of Electronic Resources: The Electronic Resources Librarian should

Who Should Read This Book?

A note on language: We use the term “librarian” a lot b­ ecause it’s

Our purpose is not to overwhelm you with in-­depth details or high-­

practical advice and just enough background information to get you up

Vendors Are Your Friend

• Types of Vendors: A basic introduction to the dif­fer­ent types of vendors and

• The Ideal Vendor Relationship: Methods of starting and maintaining good

­ e’re focusing on t­ hese specific topics due to their inclusion in NASIG’s

Subscription Agents (aka Book Jobbers)

Subscription agents are g­ reat for managing many individual purchases,

Consortia and Buying Clubs

The Ideal Vendor Relationship

Libraries focus on sharing information to their patrons. The broad shar-

Building Strong Working Relationships with Vendors

responsible for libraries of a certain size in a certain geographic area. A

Of course, this approach requires you to be able to find an initial con-

• Contact librarians who deal with electronic resource management at librar-

As a best practice, store contact information for vendors in a loca­

representatives mention that they are creating a new product or platform,

Jumpstarting Relationships at a New Library

Negotiating with Vendors

through a consortium. At some point in your ­career in this field, however,

Adopting the Negotiation Mind-­Set

Method One: Principled Negotiation

Method Two: The WHAT Method

This method of negotiation has four main princi­ples:

Tips and Techniques

Research the Com­pany

• What is the com­pany’s current position in the market?

Make a checklist of terms and price caps that must be in an agreement.

Research Your Alternatives

Commit to a Communication Style

Recognize your weaknesses, and stick with a communication style that

Determine who among your vendor representatives has the decision-­

Give and Take

Recognize your essentials (which should be documented on your check-

Delay Tactics Are Totally Acceptable

If something gets difficult, be willing to delay. “I ­w ill have to ask my

representing your institution (most colleges have a university attorney, and

Be Prepared to Walk Away

Sometimes you c­ an’t come to an agreement. Sometimes you realize your

Licenses: The Fine Print

License negotiation is a common form of negotiation for Electronic

• A Note on Public Libraries: Where license negotiation is comparatively

The amount of negotiation you w ­ ill need to do w

A Note on Public Libraries

Big Deals are bundled collections of e-journals, usually marketed to academic

A note on language: We use the term “librarian” a lot b ecause it’s

Our purpose is not to overwhelm you with in-depth details or high-

• Types of Vendors: A basic introduction to the different types of vendors and

e’re focusing on t hese specific topics due to their inclusion in NASIG’s

Subscription agents are g reat for managing many individual purchases,

As a best practice, store contact information for vendors in a loca

through a consortium. At some point in your career in this field, however,

Adopting the Negotiation Mind-Set

This method of negotiation has four main principles:

Research the Company

• What is the company’s current position in the market?

Determine who among your vendor representatives has the decision-

If something gets difficult, be willing to delay. “I w ill have to ask my

Sometimes you c an’t come to an agreement. Sometimes you realize your

The amount of negotiation you w ill need to do w

Example of Language: “Either party may terminate this License by

Example of Language: “The licensee shall indemnify the licensor

Example of Language: “This Agreement shall be governed by and con-

• You want this to be as broad as possible.

• If possible, remove any limitation of liability.